Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,

I need to bleed the coolant forom my 1.9dg. My haynes tells me to either undo the bleed plug from both water jackets or undo the lowest coolant hose. I know theres lots of info on this but a lot of it is conflicting. I 've looked on the wiki that says jack up and the haynes says no need.

Problem is I can only see 1 bleed plug on the pass side water jacket. I cant see another on the ther side. Is undoing just the one plug and then the coolant plug on the read sufficient?? I hope so cos it's bloody cold out there!!

Firstly, do you mean draining all the coolant out completely ?
As in to make it safe in the minus temperatures, because of no anti-freeze (or similar issues)

Or

Do you mean to bleed it of trapped air ?

Let us know what you are doing and why and help will follow

hi ghost sorry mate should have been more specific, bleed it completely to put in new antifreeze.

insitu_mouldings wrote:hi ghost sorry mate should have been more specific, bleed it completely to put in new antifreeze.

Ah right, you mean drain it completely, not bleed it completely, bleeding refers to getting air locks out of the system, which you will be doing around twice very soon

OK, so this is easier as you don't have to worry if a bit of old coolant stays in then.

Heater control to HOT.
Bottom hose off Rad = a bit hard to get at but hey ho - maybe do this at the engine end, whichever looks easier on yours.
Lowest hose off engine = easy.
Take one of the small hoses off the top of the thermostat housing. Assuming post 85 DG it should have a black plastic thermostat housing at the front left side of the engine as you look at it - take care with that housing as they are hard to get and easy to break. It has an air bleed screw at the top - it does not have to come right out to bleed air take care with it = do not break it !

Personally I would not bother with the block DRAIN screw (other opinions may vary of course)

After doing the above, 95% of your water will be all over the drive !

Put the correct amount of the CORRECT type of anti-freeze in BEFORE you add any water.
Details on all that here = https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Co ... ing_system

I use Comma Extreme Red from Partco etc - it meets the correct spec and is way cheaper than many others (incl the gen VW stuff)

Important - after you are finished you could do with leaving it running for AGES to get the antifreeze mixed up with the water in the main Rad AFTER the thermostat has fully opened, like for 30 mins after the rad fan has kicked in.

thanks ghost I have the comma red too, 15 quid for 5 litres.

insitu_mouldings wrote:thanks ghost I have the comma red too, 15 quid for 5 litres.

How much have you got - you need around 9 Ltrs

yes 9 to do any good

Do you mean to bleed it of trapped air ?

what would the procedure for this be?

Here is a tale of me doing this a year (or was it 2) ago, snipped from another thread on here =

2 Years ago I had a water pipe "let go" (just because it was perished).
It was early November and not yet freezing (unlike this year).

I repaired it and filled with plain water "just for now".

2 Days later the forecast was for frost.

I had bought the correct anti-freeze, but by the time I heard this it was gone 11pm and already VERY cold
I had actually already gone to bed, but I could not help worrying, So, I got out of bed, put about 5 layers of clothing on top of my pyjamas and set off to the Morrisons car park where there was some light to work under

I drained it, put the 50 % in and topped up with water, bled it a few times. I then realised I had to get the thermostat open and the whole thing up to temp to distribute the anti-freeze all round the system. It took for ever until the rad fan kicked in !! Even then I felt I had to run it at a fast tickover for 1/2 an hour, then I drove it around town for another 1/2 an hour, just to be sure (this was a recent new engine and I was taking no chances !!)

By the time I got back it was VERY cold and gone 1am

edoh wrote:Do you mean to bleed it of trapped air ?

what would the procedure for this be?

AS mentioned above see the entry in our wiki here =
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Co ... ing_system

I have 9 litres

But I have a system full of frozen water to go with it.

I have learned a major lesson today that having not enough anti freeze in these vehicles is playing with fire and plain stupid.

I have just got back in from a 5 hour stint and my balls are like icycles!

I still have been unable to clear the system of slush due to the sub zero temperatures and have had almost every coolant hose in the engine bay off. the rad end of the vehicle and the metal pipes underneath are frozen solid. Please any whos daft enough to ever pull this stunt learn your lesson from my experience as its really not worth it!!!!!

You have my sympathy friend.

As you may of noticed from my post above with the quotes, I nearly got myself in that situation a couple of years ago, and only by brute will power, got out of bed and sorted it before the minus conditions hit !

At least (I hope) your engine is clear of water, so that should be safe against frost damage

Not sure what to suggest except to shelve it for now until a thaw as trying to de-frost a frozen rad is nigh on impossible (out of doors anyway).

Thanks ghost,

I do however feel slightly embarrassed by this, I think the firing squad would be too good for me to tell the truth!!

It's a fools mistake, but as you say I have cleared the engine of water.

I pulled the drain plug on the water jacket and then I took all of the hoses out and squeezed out the slush.

I pulled out the rad bleed plug and then the coolant fan thermo switch.

My problems came when I got to the dreaded metal pipes that run underneath the van. There was no chance in these sub-zero temps of thawing these out, cue the hair dryer and still no joy. Gutted but hopefully the damage in the end will just be a bruised ego.